Rottenburg Vocational School

The expansion of the vocational school in Rottenburg adds a new component to a school campus that has grown over decades. The new building supplements the existing structure with classrooms, a media center and library, and student study areas. The design responds to the limited space available with an elongated structure that blends into the surroundings through cantilevers on the upper floor while also creating spacious entrance and break areas.

The building consists of a basement and two upper floors. The floor plan measures approximately 11.5 m x 54.0 m, with the upper floor cantilevering out by approximately 3.80 m in several places. The ground floor primarily houses classrooms and areas used by teachers. The basement houses, among other things, the library as well as restrooms and utility rooms.

The new building was designed using a sustainable wood-concrete hybrid construction method. The load-bearing structure of the basement and the cantilevered end sections is a robust reinforced concrete structure. In the remaining areas, wood-concrete composite floors and cross-laminated timber walls are used. The exposed wood and concrete surfaces also characterize the interior spaces; the structure and the interior surfaces form a unified whole.

The building is reinforced with reinforced concrete walls, particularly in the areas of the service cores. The floors and roof structure are designed as slabs to safely resist horizontal forces from wind and earthquakes. Due to the sufficiently stable soil conditions, the foundation is designed as a shallow foundation.